Mexico - Nogales to Mazatlan

Saturday July 21
Ken felt I should get a better impression of Mazatlan then what I received driving in the night before. We went and found a wonderful place to eat breakfast that was clean and had great service - the Restaurant at the Azteca Inn. I was able to finally try tamales as these were vegetarian, a chile / cheese sauce came on the side. We soon discovered that the weather here was very hot and also humid - almost unbearable. We went from one air conditioned place to the next seeking solace from the heat. We looked in many shops or stores, buying nothing. We found one little set of shops that had an entrance way to the beach. We saw the wonderful beach that tourists pay dearly to fly here for. It has green hills reaching out of the water. Hawkers are selling their wares on the beach, cover ups, drinks and more. Since we are both pretty white, especially me, we didn't dare stay on the beach too long. We moved on to the air conditioned comfort of the van. Finally we found where the pelicans hang out and took their pictures. After being so hot all day and we went for another bashing by the waves. A cool shower was in order before supper. We had drinks at Gringo Lingos, but after seeing a coachroach being killed we moved on to have supper elsewhere. An outdoor restaurant called Panchos caught our eye as it was on the water so we could drink in the sunset. Our appetizer of shrimp was delicious as were the chips and very hot salsa sauce. The supper was a bit of a disappointment to me. I ordered a shrimp dish that had bacon wrapped around the shrimp-ugh! I tried to not complain about it and just cut off the bacon. Ken bought me a rose. This was like our anniversary supper, only a few days late.

We walked around a bit and took each others pictures in front of the Canadian Consulate building - Buenos dias, ay! We drove home in an open air taxi. All in all Mazatlan was a bust - hot, humid, fleas, no place to stay, kicked out of the Holiday Inn, crowded, started feeling sick (oh wait a few days...), not to mention the music playing at the camp ground until 2 am... we're heading for the hills.




Friday July 20
The hotel we stayed in was called the Taj Mahal Hotel and it had a real middle eastern look to it. The breakfast we ate here, however, was very much Mexican and delicious. We drove from Los Mochis to Mazatlan this day. It was rather uneventful and was, of course, hot. Near dusk a large bird almost hit our windshield. That was a really a heart stopper. We saw lots of rubbish on and around the roadway. The sunset was spectacular but never got a picture of it. We arrived in Mazatlan and as we drove in to the area it was very run down looking and not like any other touristy town I had been in. Then we hit the Ava de Playas where all the hotels and the beach are. We rolled into town thinking it was Thursday night and wondered why it was so busy. Busy being an understatement, busy with open air taxis and small half tons with people riding in the back, lots of cars and buses. Many pedestrians were roaming the streets. We tried at many hotels and they were all booked because it was really Friday night. We found a RV park - San Fernando RV Park, Mazatlan, Sinaloa, MX. with hardly anyone staying there. The bathrooms were not really clean and a mariache band was playing loudly until about two in the morning. We did not care because we had actually found a place to stay the night.

Thursday July 19 (our 21st wedding anniversary)
San Carlos was a great place to wake up to on our anniversary. It, however, became hot quickly even though it had rained that night. I took pictures of some of the local trees, etc. The mundane becomes quickly exaggerated when there is not a lot to occupy the mind you are really hot. I lost my glasses case which turned into a real fiasco. Ken drove the van out of our camping spot and I stayed behind in case it was left behind - there was the glasses case under the van. We had our anniversary brunch at Marine Terrace Restaurant in San Carlos. It was really fancy with a courtyard and waiters in full dress. We were served a great meal, plus this was my first meal in Mexico. Our waiter took a picture of us outside as we were about to go. Most of the rest of the day was taken up with driving after our late start. We found a Walmart and had to see what Walmart was like in Mexico. It was, of course, more relevant to the people in this area than a Walmart at home.
We had little trouble finding our hotel when we arrived in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, MX. It was so nice to stay in an air conditioned hotel after fighting the heat for so long. I laid down when I first arrived and fell fast asleep, sleeping through until morning. Ken went down and had supper in the restaurant downstairs.

Wednesday July 18
We were off for our drive to the Mexican border today. We picked up enough food so we would not have to stop and deal with the language issue, etc. on our first day in our country of destination. We went through at Nogales, AZ the Mariposa Gate, We had to go to present our papers to the Banjercito, it took about forty-five minutes. We saw line-up mazes, which must sometimes be used and take hours. Our wait at Checkpoint 21 was about forty-five minutes in the shaded heat. It felt great to be at long last in Mexico. We began our trip on Mex 15 down the west coast of Mexico (the toll booths started). There was lots of garbage beside the road and it was not as I imagined it at all. Our first stop was at a Pemex in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico. These are state regulated gas stations. We went into the gas station (similar in looks to a gas stop at home) and tried get oriented and cooled off. We wanted to get a bit of planning inside a cool place. Two of the young workers in the Pemex came up to us and wanted to know if we were ok or lost, etc. They talked to us in English and were very friendly and welcoming in what seemed like a very strange and unusual land. We were really put at ease by our first contact with these two young Mexicans.

At around supper time we arrived at the RV park we had planned for at San Carlos, Sonora, MX. - Totonaka RV Park. The owner spoke English and was very friendly. Supper time consisted of suiting up, going swimming in the pool and eating a bit of a meal by the pool. I saw my first coach roach in San Carlos. We parked under an orange flowering Tamarind tree and a fruiting mango tree was about fifteen feet away from us. That night it thundered and lightening like I have never seen before (and I am a prairie girl) and then it rained. We watched the storm from our bed perch with the tailgate open. Wow! It was raining like crazy - monsoon style!!!

Arizona - Tucson's PEP Boys, Sophia's and Tarantulas

Tuesday July 17
In the restrooms I talked to two other woman also camping and familiar with the area. They were, in a friendly way, trying to tell me that I should not be wearing flip-flops because of the creatures living in the desert - scorpions that camouflage themselves and the trantulas. Today was another day of getting geared up for Mexico. Doing things like buying shower shoes at Target. By mid-afternoon the heat was unbearable. We roasted walking two blocks to the air-conditioned library in Tucson. In the library we were cold and I ended up falling asleep with my head on the table. Ken was asked to put his shoes on. Ken bought our Mexican liability insurance on-line. For supper we chose to eat near the library because we were going to eat then return, which we didn't. We ate at an Italian restaurant - Enoteca. We were fed a white crust pizza with cheese, a few shrimp and capers on it. I think it was supposed to be special, but it definitely was not. We reluctantly camped at the same place, with the tarantulas and all the other creatures. We again left the hatch closed.



Monday July 16
Ken woke up, at sunrise, before me today. He woke me pointing quietly to a roadrunner just out our open back hatch. The temperature is very hot and dry!!! How do you get used to this? It did rain a bit today, actually, we now find out, their monsoon season has just started. We saw many places where it said to be cautious of flooding. It rains in the mountains then the water runs down and floods the lowlands. We drove through parts yesterday, there were signs stating it was below sea level. We drove around to gear up for Mexico. We got an oil change, fuel and air filter change. The van was missing, hesitating and stalling. We thought driving through a desert could have plugged up the air filter and the fuel filter change was for luck. Tuscan's only redeeming features so far are cactus and the animals, both are so different from what we are used to.

At night, back at the camp, Ken thought he would unplug the empty Coke machine, but could not reach back in far enough. We both went about taking out nightly cool down showers. Ken was slower than I, for once, and I was waiting outside for him. I could not believe my eyes - there was a tarantula walking along the sidewalk by the Coke machine. Ken must have disturbed the tarantula's sleep when he tried to unplug the machine. We learned later that you do not stuck your hands up or below anything in the desert because of the creatures. Needless to say, camping felt a bit weird after that, I hoped to fall asleep quickly and we no longer left the hatch open at night.






Sunday July 15
It was very hot today!!!
I had an early start to the day because I knew that I had to get up and do the laundry here at the Motel 6 - less than wonderful atmosphere. We drove on from El Cajon, California to Tucson, Arizona on highway number eight through the Sonora Desert. I heard that highway number ten is even hotter. We took short breaks, mostly to cool off. We ate at a McDonalds in El Centro, California and again at Sophia's Mexican Food Restaurant in Gila Bend, Arizona. Now Sophia's needs mentioning because it was the worst Mexican food that we have eaten thus far. Ken opened his usual order, a burrito and wondered what was in it, how bad is that? The salsa must have been out of a jar/can/alley... and my chili relleno had hard bits - yeach!!!! It has gotten very hot here, I think it is near Death Valley (130 degrees F that day). On the way, the van started missing, turned out to be a plugged air filter. That night we found a campground north of Tucson, called, Catalina State Park, we set up and took showers to cool off, not knowing of the tarantula that lives behind the Coke machine. The little restroom buildings were very hot, like a sauna without the humidity because it is very dry here. There are cactus and other desert vegetation here.

California - San Diego Zoo, Latino Ricky

Saturday July 14

We hauled our sorry butts out of bed early to go garage sailing in San Diego. Last time we were here, great garage sales. We used Craig's list to find the sales, we were discriminating into which areas we actually went. We didn't leave our campsite until 9:45 which for anywhere is late for garage sales. We mostly hung out in the University Heights area. Generally the sales were a bust because we took so long getting out and about even thought we were up early. We walked around University Heights area and ate East Indian Food. We arrived at the Balboa Park area and I went to the Spanish Village Art area for the third time. There is so much art to view. I talked to an animal painter who wanted to get out of the rat race of San Diego. We went back to the zoo for our final animal experience at the San Diego Zoo - more view, more pictures. Saw great polar bear, zebra, etc. posses. I was very sad that it was our last day at the zoo.





Friday July 13
We had to leave our little campground at Sweetwater Regional Park. They were booked for Friday and Saturday night before we even arrived last Sunday. We had a huge Papaya for breakfast which we believe was a little off or something. I felt a bit sick all day. We finally ate fish tacos for lunch, a food San Diego is famous for. That did not help me feel anymore special than I did before the tacos, in fact I felt worse.

I decided I wanted to become a member of the Visions Art Quilt Gallery. They had a member's call for entry juried show closing date tomorrow. Ken is such a darling! We, as you know, brought our laptop on holidays. He got pictures for two quilts, their artist statements, etc. ready to go so I could get it all burned on disc to be taken in and enter the show. I got to go back to the Visions Quilt Gallery and show Ken what a wonderful building they were in. I thought maybe he would want to see the quilts (I wanted to but he wanted to go off toward our next adventure - the Wild Animal Park in Escondido.




We were off to Escondido on a one and a half hour road trip because of backed up traffic. The one and only time we were involved in a traffic jam in the San Diego area. It was very hot! When we got there I know I was not interested in even being there I was so hot, tired, grumpy and miserable. We started walking and discovered the safari ride.





It is like an open air train which takes you around the main part of the park where the animals are free to roam. It is like getting to see African animals as they might be in the wild. It is well narrated and very interesting to see. The animals perked up my mood. The elephants seemed happier here. In fact, they swap out animals from the zoo to here to get more exercise. We saw African dancers- Masaii. They were dancing to raise money for their cause, that of saving the endangered lion. In their culture, if a lion kills a goat or a cow they are supposed to chase the lion for ten days and then kill it. They now have a program in place to assist those nasty lions. Instead of killing the lion to make up for the death of his goat or cow the African Lion Conservation Society will pay him two hundred dollars to replace the animal. They were invited by the San Diego Zoo to dance and raise money for this worthy cause. We all need to support this or there will soon be no lions.





It took a lot less time to return to our hotel in El Cajon then it had on our trip out to the Wild Animal Park. I was so tired when we returned that I was practically in tears getting ready for bed.






Thursday July 12
We heard snoring all night long. We had to close our skylight it was so loud. By morning we were a bit testy and Ken went out looking for our tablecloth. He did not have to look far as our snoring neighbor had in on his picnic table. Ken went and retrieved it for our breakfast table setting. Heavy set with a beard we dubbed the guy Latino "Ricky" from the TV show the Trailer Park Boys. I wonder if we will run across Latino "Bubbles" or Latino "Lucy"?



We returned to the Zoo again, my favourite San Diego adventure. We rode the sight seeing tour bus on the top level. Great view - HOT- what were we thinking - sitting on the top level of an open roofed tour bus at lunch time in southern California? We both survived the sun without incident.






Next we thought we would head out to La Jolle. Lunch time again came quickly and we spent it at Vons. When we come down to the States we always have trouble identifying the grocery chains - no Safeway, no Thrifty's, no Save-ons.... it is hard to find a food store. Well, here Von's is one of the big ones. We ate light because we have been eating so much lately. Passing by an interesting fabric store is not something I usually do. Well, we came across a great one just a block from Von's. We were told about La Jolle Fibre Arts just across the street. I went there and was amazed by the wall hangings and unique surface designs of the art to wear. La Jolle is a unique and well off area close to the ocean. Tall palm trees line the streets.


After exploring La Jolle and all it had to offer we moved on to Pacific Beach. It had the unique offering of thrift stores which we frequented in 2001. They had changed and were not special anymore. Pacific Beach seems more of a surfer type place on the ocean. Our day ended as we walked the promenade above the actual beach. It was crowed with little shops and condos.




Wednesday July 11
Shannon McDavid's birthday. Happy Birthday Precious!!!!


Today we decided to do our own thing. We again had a late start and arrived at the Toyota dealership at about noonish. Ken stayed here and took care of the van's up keep (tweaks and repairs) - oil change, etc. The shuttle drove me all the way to the north west end - Visions Art Quilt Gallery. This is a recently opened gallery in an area of other galleries. It was well laid out, new and fresh. There were member quilts in the foyer and the Thompson Collection of Art Quilts in the main gallery area. Unfortunately I was not allowed to take pictures. Some of the quilts I was fortunate enough to see in person were completed by these talented artists - June O. Underwood, Carl Bryer Faucett, Sue Brenner, Coan Colvin, etc. There were two Canadian artists - Pamela Allen and Laurie Swim. I didn't want to leave but had to go eat. I walked, caught a bus and took the trolley to the Zoo.




When I arrived at Balboa Park I thought I would take advantage of the time to go to the Spanish Village and check out the artist's studios. I even got to talk to a few and found an exhibit of "cats" in different media. Ken and I were to meet at the Zoo at 5:00 pm. There he was right on time. It was very nice to see him although he has been the only one I have really talked to for weeks. We went to the zoo for a short time.


We went to Old Town for supper. Old Town is another trendy district with lots of restaurants.

When we returned to Sweetwater our picnic table cloth which marked our site had disappeared. Now this table cloth is a vinyl number that we bought to go camping with on our first trip together back in '83. It is blue with brightly coloured vegetables printed across it, very tacky. I always said that if someone wants that ugly thing they can have it. Somehow I felt very upset that someone came into our camp and took the tablecloth.



Tuesday July 10
We left our campground at 9:00 am, a personal record. We found an AAA to find out about Mexican insurance for our vehicle. We also got more maps, etc. Now to go to Mexico you also need a tourist card to enter the country for any length of time. We decided to go to Little Italy to the Mexican consulate. This felt very unusual as we were the only gringos in the place and everyone was speaking Spanish (what else would we expect). Several times I had to go up to tellers to ask where to next. There were matter of fact and got us through the procedure quickly.


That experience deserved lunch in Little Italy - pizza at Mona Lisa Italian Foods.


Even though we got out early from our campground we did not get to the San Diego Zoo until 4:30. I enjoyed myself so much, the animals are great for the soul. I went crazy and took lots of pictures especially of the giraffes. We went and ate at Balboa Park again.



We wanted to be informed and needed WiFi. We drove downtown to outside the Westin Hotel for a connection. While trying to find a campground for the weekend we were e-mailed by Motel 6 with discount prices in El Capon. We booked it. Driving back to the campground we downloaded out zoo pics and lost track of our freeway. We drove south almost to Mexico. San Diego is really easy to drive, the freeways are well marked, plentiful and strategically placed.

We walked lots today - 15 023 steps on the step meter.



Monday July 9
This day we took it easy in the morning after travelling for over a week. We remembered our great thrift experiences in San Diego back in 2001 so we decided to try it again. But this time it was very unproductive. Ken wanted to get a few things done on the van so we went to Frank Toyota in National City, CA. - great WiFi connection. Unfortunately they overcharged and attempted a double bill, Ken was a bit ticked off. Once done there we went to Hillside, Normal Heights, North Park and University Heights. We went to our favourite grocery store from when we lived in San Diego - Whole Food Market on University Avenue. They were sponsoring a drumming circle. I felt it was not as lively or good a one led by either Voodoo Dave or Rose T.

At night we had a snack in Balboa Park then went on to eat in the Gaslight district. We ate at Royal Thai in the Gaslight District. This restaurant is one of the places we ate for our fifteen wedding anniversary. We had an early night and returned to Sweetwater Park.

Sunday July 8
In the morning Ken reluctantly shaved off his now lengthy whiskers.

We drove through Oceanside and quickly came to Carlsbad, CA. It seems to be a little artist community. Then we drove on to San Diego for a week of touring. Great to be back, I love San Diego! We spent much of the day trying to find reasonably priced (inexpensive) accommodation for the week. We looked at a few rooms at 500 Broadway. It was reasonable but a single room, down the hall bathrooms, no air conditioning, shared kitchen, etc. Just not a gut reaction, but we decided to pass and camp instead. We found Sweetwater Regional Park. It is a park that allows horses if you have them. There were corrals for horses at most of the campsites.

In the evening we drove downtown to the Gaslamp district and walked around. There were lots of restaurants and bars open even on a Sunday night. By evening it was quite cool. There were lots of open air restaurants with heaters on (need Planet Buster stickers). When we drove home we got lost. No wonder; we drove so much that day and we were tired.

California - LA, San Francisco, San Jose

Saturday July 7
Drove into Los Angelees, going pick up a couple of....well, you remember the song. We drove around Beverly Hills via Wilshire Blvd. The houses were completely extravagant with amazing landscape...so Hollywood. We went into Starbucks and when leaving saw two Airedales. She had them cut with long hair on their faces and clipped bodies. They were very friendly. One was even a tall as Hector our airedale.

We walked through Will Rodger's Park and found a pond with big fish. We drove on to Newport Beach and our Mexican take-out food by the water. We watched other tourists and forceful crow trying to persuade us to give him something. The beach there was about six feet wide. People seemed to be enjoying themselves just like at home on our big beaches. This is an area of fine homes in the millions of dollars or so range. The house appear to be up scale cabins and are really close together. It is really crowded with people. We drove on to Lauguna Beach and Ken needed a nap from driving in the hot sun. I went out and explored the village. It was crowded with people and up scale little shops. The surf was pounding very loudly.

We stayed at a Hotel 6 in Oceanside, CA needing a rest from camping and to do our laundry. We even were able to enjoy the hot tub.


Friday July 6
Our breakfast was had a little later than usual and combined it with lunch. We chose a small middle eastern deli in Saratoga. Delicious food.

We decided to adventure out on our own for a while this day. Ken wanted to go to Cupertino to the Apple headquarters. He thought their would be a tour, but found only a store full of T-shirts, etc. with the apple logo. While he did that I sat in an air conditioned library on our trusty laptop doing blog updates.

We drove on to San Jose to the San Jose Quilt and Textile Museum. There was approximately fifty small quilts in the shape of houses. Most were great, some were, in my estimation, exceptional. Some of the more well know artists were Theresa May, Yvonne Porcellano and Pamella Ellan from Canada. Some must have been from emerging artists. The main gallery had tapesteries that were wonderful. Most imaginative I had ever seen.


San Jose is a nice, shady little city. I ate supper at La Taqueria, first time I had a burrito, which was delicious. Ken drove that night to a rest stop in the Tehachapi Mountains, Tejon Pass.


Thursday July 5

This was to be our thrifting day in San Francisco, At the top of the list was The Goodwill at corner of Van Ness and Mission. I wanted to get more citified in my dress and I knew this to be a great thrift spot. Continuing up Van Ness we came across Dick Blick and made a sizable art supply purchase. This was all before lunch which was at a great vegetarian restaurant in China Town - Lucky Creation Vegetarian Restaurant. We continued thrifting in higher class, "new to you" type thrift stores. We ended the stay in San Francisco back at Shalimar's with a different, delicious main dish.

We drove to Saratoga Springs and the state park was closed for the night but found a little campground beside a brook. It had hot showers and let us in at 10:00 pm.


Wednesday July 4
Started the day with a cold shower. Had the caretaker at Marin Park check it out and he said to just let the water run a little longer - it worked and I got hot water.

We drive over the Golden Gate Bridge, which is a toll bridge, in San Francisco. We needed to go for a walk and went to Pacific Heights. Great place to take pictures of flowers and trees. Lots of people jogging in this area.

For lunch we went to China town which was very crowded and noisy. We walked in the area we stayed in about ten years ago. Some parts have really changed, like the hotel is being turned into a boutique hotel. We wanted to go to MOMA but it was closed for the holiday. We walked in Macy's department store and found woman's shoes for $585. We drove up telegraph hill to Coit Tower. We did not see parrots but did see a butterfly.

We looked for parking for hours at around supper time. Sounds like the time when we were in San Francisco with Alix. Finally we decided to park way up on Van Ness and just follow the crowd. There was fireworks by the Bay and everyone started going there at supper time. We ate at Shalimar's (Indian/ Pakistan food). It was so good, I had never had food like that before.

We decided to stay across the Oakland bridge. By the time we crossed the bridge the fireworks had started and were spectacular. We could see fireworks going off everywhere. We could smell them, too. Fireworks aren't regulated like in Canada and even in back alleys there were fireworks going off.

We had no place booked to stay at so we decided to boon dock at Walmart in Oakland. There was security driving around in a small truck watching the parking lot, there were cameras on the Walmart building over looking the parking lot. I still did not feel that safe or welcome. We read in the paper and heard from others that Walmart welcomed campers, especially RVs to there parking lots. We were not welcomed, although the security guard put the notice under the wiper blade so quietly that we didn't hear her. We did, however, have a safe and mostly restful night. We had an early morning and were off to San Francisco for another day.


Tuesday July 3
We stayed at Stillwater Cove Regional Park. Some type of jay and Peacocks woke us up. After all the good eats we have consumed we decided that we must walk more if we want to continue. We went for a morning walk by the ocean cliffs. Breathtaking scenery of sand, rocks and blooming sedum took our eyes away from the birds floating on the updrafts of air. We are starting to see very unusual flora - blue gum trees and evergreens unlike those of home.

Cows again became the centre of attention. Cattle gates criss-crossed the road until finally cows were actually crossing in the middle of the road. They seemed to look at us as if they owned the road and all the surrounding area. This is the day we left the coast highway turning south, east on highway 110 to Sebastopol and on the San Rafael.

For all you surface designers out there, San Rafael is the home Dharma Trading.
I could not resist going to Dharma's store. In front is yarn. They have a fabric room and a room that has dyes and paints for fabric.

From San Rafael we went on to Sausalito and Tiburon. We went to the same place in Tiburon for happy hour that we went to last time we were there - Guaymas. The food was really delicious and great atmosphere.

Marin Park Inc. is a RV park and is not really that great. It is like a big parking lot with bathrooms.


Monday July 2
Our day started with a walk in the forest then a drive through a giant Redwood tree. Very touristy thing to do but we couldn't resist. The geese and ducks by the big pond made that little adventure worth while.

We want to see as much scenery as possible right now. We drove the #1 CA scenic route along the coast. The road was twisty, windy and, as promised, scenic.
We needed a stretch of the legs and got out at Fort Bragg, an artsy little town. I found a huge fabric store with African batik fabric. I succumb to a little fabric but could have definitely bought more.

We were told that Mendocino CA was even a more artsy town. By the time we arrived everything was closed. It was windy and not that exciting to us. We had only frappacinos to see - yum!

In the field by the windy road was cows, an actual field of jersey cows, my personal favourite cow breed. Out came the camera. When we slowed down the cows came running toward our van, a bit unnerving but exciting. They could end up in a quilt, too.

Gabriola to Northern California

Sunday July 1

Happy Canada Day! First thing we did today was put a Canada flag decle on our van. What better a day to be patriotic!

Wow, was the food good at the Morning Glory- soysausage, biscuits and gravy, fresh squeezed juice. Be wary of ordering a large juice because it is $5.00.

This was a big driving day. We went from the I-5 from Grants Pass to 101 CA highway. We ate supper watching the sunset by the ocean at Eureka CA. We discovered whole wheat sourdough bread and horseradish cheddar at thecoolest Co-op with Wifi available in the parking lot.

We stopped to sleep at Richardson Grove State Park - Garberville, CA (Ken loves state parks). This is a park in the Redwoods. The trees are absolutely spectacular. I took lots of pictures which might or might not get turned into quilts. I felt very inspired. Being surrounded by huge trees does something to the soul.





Saturday June 30
We arrived in Seattle at lunch. Since we go to Seattle fairly frequently we decided to pass through and only go to one favourite spot. We wanted to go to a particular restaurant in the Capital Hill district - a Tibetian restaurant. We took an exit which actually had us serindiptously arrive right on the corner near our restaurant. The restaurant was closed until 4:00 on Saturday. A Japanese restaurant was where we ended up - Hana Restaurant - delicious. There is a Value Village in Capital Hill area and of course, we went to it finding exactly what we needed and wanted. Thrift is great in Seattle.

We continued on our journey to Portland. Upon our arrive in Portland we visited the huge Powell Street book store. I found books I had only seen on the internet and decided on a few and decided against others but will order when I arrive home. Dan and Louis Oyster Bar is always a favourite of our's for a great oyster stew or chowder. The restaurant was nearly empty of customers but the walls were full of mementos and old plates, etc. It has losts it charm for us after about sixteen years of Louis when visiting Portland.

Ken likes to drive at night so off we went, back on to the I-5 to find another rest stop. We do like to eat and we know of a great little restaurant in Eugene, OR that serves up a mean biscuits and gravy, vegetarian style. We decided to stay outside Eugene and find the Morning Glory cafe for breakfast (near the old train station).

Friday June 29
This is the start of Ken and Donna's big adventure. We left Gabriola on the 7:25 pm ferry. I always feel sad leaving Gabriola for any long length of time. It makes me feel shaky and sad - unusual reaction I would say. I realize we left pretty late but we just wanted to get going before we didn't get away until Saturday.

We were both so tired from getting ready to go. When we are on the big ferry we like to walk circuits to get in some "steps". I know I stumbled a few times just from the tiredness factor.

This was our first night in the new Toyota Previa Van. We stayed at a rest stop on the I-5. Freebee camping, you can't beat it. Unless, of course, you plan on having a shower in the morning.